Posts tagged regulation

Think regional locks on movie streaming and other digital goods are silly? So does the European Commission. It's outlining a new strategy (the Digital Single Market) that would prevent companies from geo-blocking online services when it's not truly necessary. This kind of arbitrary limit "cannot e...

Uber is only willing to bend German law so far, it seems. The ridesharing outfit tells Wirtschafts Woche that it'll get around a court-ordered ban on its unlicensed services (such as UberX) by creating a new service that both pays for the drivers' taxi licenses and registers them as companies. Whi...

You may have noticed that a lot of the Federal Trade Commission's regulation revolves around technology, whether it's device privacy or less-than-honest phone carriers. The agency certainly has. It recently created the Office of Technology Research and Investigation, a division that will study eve...

American phone carriers are supposed to keep 911 lines up and running as long as possible, and Verizon is learning that the hard way. It's paying $3.4 million after the FCC determined that it fell short of obligations when an outage left 750,000 Californians without emergency calls for six hours. ...

Thinking of posting that sweet drone footage online? You might want to be careful about it. The Federal Aviation Administration is telling at least one hobbyist, Jayson Hanes, that his aerial robotic videos run afoul of regulation because they're on YouTube. Hanes is allegedly flying "commercially...

Last month, the FAA announced regulations for piloting drones, requiring you to keep your eyes on the unmanned aircraft at all times. Looking to help ease those rules, Excelis is developing an air traffic control system for drones, and it's nearly ready for trials at the Federal Aviation Administr...

Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush isn't about to break with the party line on net neutrality. The former Florida Governor told those at an Iowa question-and-answer session this weekend that the FCC's decision to classify broadband as a utility was "one of the craziest ideas I've ever heard." It doesn'...

It's no secret that the US government wants companies to bring more of their offshore profits back home for the sake of taxes, and it's now exceptionally clear as to why. Bloomberg has sifted through financial filings and discovered that the top eight American tech firms, including Apple, Google a...

It's a good day for proponents of an open internet: The Federal Communications Commission just approved its long-awaited network neutrality plan, which reclassifies broadband internet as a Title II public utility and gives the agency more regulatory power in the process. And unlike the FCC's last ...

Today is one of the more momentous days in the FCC's recent history. Its net neutrality vote will get most of the press attention, but its moves to protect municipal broadband from state legislators are also quite important. The proposal adopted today is narrowly focused, but it could have huge im...

If you were worried that the Federal Aviation Administration would require a pilot's license before you could fly a drone for professional reasons, you can relax... well, sort of. The FAA has published its proposed commercial drone rules, and they're a bit more lenient than some had feared. The go...

The Chinese government has long been pushing people to use their real names online. However, it's now ready to make that an absolute requirement. Starting March 1st, residents will have to register internet accounts (including on blogs, chat services and social networks) using their real names. Th...

Frustrated that your state won't let you get city-run broadband, even when it could be faster or cheaper than the privately-run alternatives? The FCC may soon act on its warnings and do something about it. The Washington Post understands that the Commission is exploring a draft proposal that would...

If you were seduced by offers of "unlimited" phone data on prepaid carriers like Straight Talk or Simple Mobile only to find your service unbearably slow after a certain point, the Federal Trade Commission has your back. The carriers' owner, TracFone, has agreed to pay the FTC $40 million to settl...

You may like the FCC's proposal to upgrade the legal definition of broadband, but your internet provider probably doesn't. The industry's National Cable & Telecommunications Association has sent a letter to the FCC claiming that there's no real justification for bumping the legal definition o...

California just stepped back from a policy that might have had a big, big impact on ridesharing services in the Golden State. Its Department of Motor Vehicles has revoked a finding that drivers for companies like Lyft and Uber need commercial license plates in order to do business. The DMV origina...

Everyone loves the idea of strapping a smartwatch to their wrist and using it to get a bit healthier, but there's a fine line between casual wearables and serious medical devices. It's an important distinction, since while the former can be sold without any sort of oversight, the latter is rightly...

The White House promised warmer relations with Cuba that would provide easier access to US technology (among many other things), and it's delivering in spades. As of January 16th, American companies can legally sell consumer tech to everyday Cubans. That includes cellphones, PCs, TVs and anything ...

CNN has been looking into the prospect of using drones for news reporting for months, but it now has an important ally in its corner: the FAA. The two organizations have forged a research agreement that will create an official framework for UAV use by the American press. CNN hopes this will move t...

It's not too hard for Cubans to get WiFi connections if they swing by hotels and offices with less-than-secure hotspots, but they're technically breaking the law -- unless you're in a privileged job, you're supposed to plug in or use a terminal. However, the country is loosening its grip on the ai...